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It has been described as one of the largest frauds of its kind in the UK.

In all 14 individuals have been found guilty for their part in a multi-million pound conspiracy to cheat more than 3,500 holiday ownership holders.

The affected individuals were eager to terminate age-old holiday ownership agreements and went looking for help.

Most were from 60 and 80. Over 500 of them surrendered more than £10,000, and a single victim handed over over £80,000.

Those targeted were subjected to aggressive consultations continuing for six hours. They were out of money, holding worthless fake "credits" and still trapped in high-priced holiday ownership agreements they frequently were unable to use.

The Firm Central to the Deception

The firm at the centre of the scheme was Sell My Timeshare (SMT). They accepted clients' cash to fund the directors' lavish lifestyle of private schools, high-end properties and personal aircraft.

The man at the head of the company, the company director, was sentenced to a seven-and-half year jail time in January for deceptive scheme.

On Friday, his spouse Nicola was among the last group to learn their fate.

She was given a two-year suspended jail sentence at the judicial venue after admitting financial crime.

This has been a extended wait and marks a huge win for the people who spoke out, the law enforcement and legal representatives.

The Way the Probe Started

I first heard about the firm emerged during the mid-2016. I was working in the research department of a media outlet, creating investigative shows.

A colleague mentioned that his mother had assumed the use of a holiday property in Spain and, after long-term use, had begun looking to get out of the agreement.

It is important to recall how popular holiday ownership had evolved with British holidaymakers in the eighties and nineties.

Vacation properties enabled families to access the equivalent unit annually, or exchange their time slots with fellow investors who had units in other resorts. About 600,000 vacation seekers took up that option.

The initial boom was accompanied by a numerous stories about rip-off merchants mis-selling units. They appeared frequently on consumer TV programmes.

The common timeshare contract locked buyers for decades.

In that period, those holders who had enjoyed their assigned property in the sun for decades were getting older, and many were looking to end their association to their holiday properties.

Several had health issues and couldn't get to their units. Some just felt they'd got all they wanted from them. And some had died, in frequent situations leaving their heirs to inherit the agreements - including their annual payments and service charges.

The Investigation Progresses

This was the situation the friend's mum had found herself. She looked online for answers and found the company, a enterprise whose digital platform promised to release her from her agreement.

But, having submitted funds and scheduled a consultation with them, her family became suspicious.

Additional investigation showed numerous individuals saying they had handed over cash and achieved no result out of it. Actually, they had lost money. Significant sums.

The investigative unit began investigating what was going on. It quickly became clear that there were dubious individuals working within the timeshare resale sector.

One lawyer had many grievance cases aiming to litigate against the company.

We spoke to clients who had dealt with the organization and they each reported similar experiences. They believed the firm would acquire their investment away from them but when they went to a consultation (for which they paid up front) they were informed there was no re-sale value.

Instead, they were encouraged - actually compelled - to spend more money investing in "the firm's incentive scheme", associated with the organization's holding firm, Monster Travel.

The nature of these rewards was not exactly clear. They appeared to be a kind of currency, providing reduced-price holidays and services and shopping deals.

And they were apparently "transferable with fellow investors, at a future date.

Committing funds immediately would lead to an long-term benefit that would offset the company's charges and leave the investor in profit, freed at last from their pesky deal.

An unrealistic promise? Indeed, it was.

A 'Misleading Scheme'

If these accounts were accurate, this was a large-scale fraud.

It's what is called a "bait-and-switch."

An operator - in this case the organization - "baits" the customer by advertising a defined offering only to then state it cannot be provided, directing the individual towards an alternative, lesser option.

Such practices are unlawful. Equipped with all the testimony we had collected, we made the case to secretly film one of the organization's sessions.

This takes time, effort, and strong justifications for why this is the sole method to gather the evidence required to demonstrate illegal activity.

Once authorized, our limited crew set up a consultation with one of the organization's staff in the English town.

Acting as a ordinary individual wanting to get his mum free from her timeshare contract|holiday ownership agreement